As an essential portion of most medical examinations, persons are asked to leave a urine specimen for testing. Such examinations may be performed as an incoming or "annual" examination in connection with employment, for example. Furthermore, a "physical" may be required by insurance companies before issuing a policy to a person. One of the principal tests performed on these urine specimens is to detect diabetes, although other illnesses are usually investigated by these tests. More recently, urine specimens are taken for the detection of drugs that are prohibited for certain occupations. Such fields as athletics and security and safety personnel are typical of the fields where drug detection is currently being investigated.
A wide range of containers have been used in the past to receive a urine specimen from a person. Some are glass bottles with a cardboard top that is inserted by the person after passing (voiding) the urine through the urinary tract into the bottle. More recently the container is in the form of a cup having a more secure cover, thus providing additional safety in the shipment of the specimen cup to a laboratory. Because of the hazards of certain illnesses (e.g., AIDS), the cups are often fabricated from plastic and are considered to be disposable. Typical of the cups available for urine specimens are those distributed by American Scientific Products, 1430 Waukegan Road, McGaw Park, Ill. 60085-6787. A typical cup is Model C8827.
One problem that has always been recognized relative to obtaining a urine specimen is that of assuring that the urine deposited in the specimen container is actually that of the person for whom the tests are to be performed. This problem has greatly increased in various drug testing examinations. Due to the requirement for privacy of the person during voiding, there is no assurance that the urine specimen was received from that person at that time or an earlier time--or even from another person. This possible "forgery" of specimens is apparently so prevalent that even a black market in urine specimens has developed.
One attempt at a solution is the use of a urine specimen container that senses the temperature of the urine. Such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,299, issued to J. R. Ehrenkranz on Jan. 14, 1986. Thus, if the temperature of the urine is at a temperature corresponding to the body temperature, there is some assurance that the specimen was voided by the donor directly into the container. However, if a specimen is carried in a container in contact with the body for a period of time, that specimen could achieve a temperature proximate that of body temperature and still not be the specimen of the correct person. With the importance of drug testing, in particular, other precautions are necessary to prevent the introduction of "false" specimens.
Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for minimizing the introduction of false urine specimens into the urine collection containers.
It is another object to provide a urine collection container that provides an indication as to whether the urine being deposited in the container is coming through the urinary tract of the container user or whether the urine has another source, e.g., poured into the container.
It is a further object to provide a urine specimen collection container having associated therewith circuitry to provide a signal to differentiate between a specimen that is being received through the urinary tract of a donor or received from another source.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a urine collection container wherein there is an integrally incorporated electrical circuit to provide a signal to differentiate between a urine specimen that is being received through the urinary tract of a user or received from another source.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon a consideration of the drawings referred to hereinafter and the complete description thereof.